Sebastian Vettel held talks with McLaren to join alongside Lewis Hamilton, ex-Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug has revealed.
The German quickly became a hot commodity in Formula 1 in 2007, scoring points on debut for BMW at Indianapolis before putting in notably strong performances in the wet in Japan and China after being drafted in at Toro Rosso.
Of course, the following year, he would win his first race at Monza, with Michael Schumacher recommending Vettel to Ferrari seven years before he would eventually join.
But when McLaren needed to find a replacement for Fernando Alonso for 2008, the current Aston Martin driver was on their radar.
“I had negotiated with Sebastian during his time with Toro Rosso,” Haug told F1-Insider.com last year.
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“Who knows how the history of Formula 1 would have developed if we had reached an agreement back then?
“But, in the top league of Formula 1, everyone negotiates with everyone at some point and those who don’t admit it simply keep it to themselves. But it’s still true!”
Ultimately, Heikki Kovalainen was chosen, as Vettel went on to join Red Bull in 2009 and win four world titles between 2010-13 before moving to Ferrari after a disappointing 2014 season.
But those six years in red didn’t go plan as the German-Italian alliance couldn’t break the dominance of Hamilton and Mercedes, even if the two drivers built up a healthy respect for each other.
“Just as Mercedes managed to create first-class conditions for victories and World Championship titles for Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari failed to do the same for Sebastian Vettel,” Haug commented on why that was the case.
Looking ahead to this season, and the McLaren-Mercedes partnership which Haug was an integral part of is reforming after six years apart.
“That pleases me very much,” he said. “We had a great and mostly successful 15 years together and the McLaren-Mercedes Silver Arrows with [Mika] Häkkinen, [David] Coulthard and later Hamilton were a quality concept in Formula 1 during this time.
“I would be very happy if it would be the same again. With Andreas Seidl, there is a racer at the helm who knows where the top step of the podium is and how to get there – since things have been on the up again.”